


can we skip to the good part?

by punchbowls



Series: beat the devil (these are my friends) [1]
Category: IT (1990), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone is Alive Except Georgie Denbrough, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Stanley Uris Lives, he's not in it but i need u to know that he does, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27046900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punchbowls/pseuds/punchbowls
Summary: They killed Pennywise. They all made it out of the sewer, though not all in one piece. They're all alive, but haven't quite reached their happy ending yet. Bill and Richie assure each other that they will get there though.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough & Richie Tozier, Bill Denbrough/Audra Phillips, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: beat the devil (these are my friends) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974877
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	can we skip to the good part?

**Author's Note:**

> i am having so many bill & richie feelings this week my dudes.

It’s half past noon when Bill finds himself outside of his wife’s hospital room. The doctors are running more tests, but he doesn’t think they’ll find anything new. He may not understand it, but he knows why she’s in her condition and it scares him.  _ IT  _ still scares him, even though IT’s dead and gone. He wants everything to be over now. He wants a happy ending like in the fairy tales he used to read Georgie, and even Eddie after they defeated IT for the first time. It’s what they all deserve isn’t it? But Georgie’s still gone and Eddie might follow him. 

Tears sting the back of Bill’s eyes as he wanders through the hospital wings. He wonders if they’ll all forget again. Part of him wants to hope that the aching holes in his heart will disappear with the memories, but he doesn’t want to lose sight of the rest of the Losers either. He especially doesn’t want to forget when he reaches Mike’s room and sees Bev and Ben with Mike, all of their hands and arms entwined with each other. They must have told Mike everything that’s happened, and is still happening. 

Mike catches sight of him in the doorway and his eyes are soft. 

“Hi, Bill,” he says gently. 

The others look up at him and all their eyes are full of so much  _ love _ , Bill thinks he might crack under the pressure.

“Hey, guys,” Bill manages. He scans the rest of the room. “Where’s Richie?”

“He went to the bathroom to clean up a little,” Ben answers. 

Bev straightens a little from where she’s leaned against Ben and her brow creases. “It’s been a while though.”

“I’ll check on him,” Bill says.

He already knows Richie’s not good, none of them are yet, but the way Richie pulled Eddie out of the sewers confirmed and sealed Bill’s suspicions about how the two felt about each other. Bill also knows how it feels to have a lover stolen by IT and his steps quicken when he sees the bathroom sign. He steps through the doors and one tells him that he and Richie are the only ones inside. 

Richie stands over one of the sinks, scrubbing his hands. There’s no blood there or on his forearms, but they’re red from being rubbed raw. Bill can still see the stain of blood on the shoulders of his dark t-shirt and on his neck. 

Bill walks over and pulls down a few paper towels. Richie jumps at his presence, but Bill just keeps moving. He wets the paper towels and squeezes them out in the sink Richie is using, then turns to his friend. It’s silent except for the running water as they lock eyes. Bill reaches up to pull Richie’s head down and he washes his face and neck off with gentle hands.

Richie’s rigid and more silent than Bill’s ever heard him as he washes away as much of the blood as he can. He tosses the paper towels away when they turn pink and grabs more. He wipes away blood from inside and behind Richie’s ears and they make eye contact again. 

“Where’s your glasses?” is the only thing Bill can think to ask. 

“Dropped ‘em somewhere. Couldn’t find them in the stall,” Richie answers. 

“Which stall were you in?” 

“First one.”

Bill nods and leaves him to push open the stall door. His glasses are on the floor next to a smear of blood that might have been a handprint. Bill puts it together that Richie must have thrown up and his heart aches. He picks up the glasses and takes them to the sink and washes them off. He can hear Eddie complaining about the germs of a bathroom floor and that they should probably put them in bleach before Richie puts them on his face again. When he hands them to Richie, Bill knows he can hear Eddie too because he doesn’t put them on. 

“Thanks, Bill,” Richie says.

“Sure thing,” Bill answers, “What do you say we run back to the hotel and you can really clean up and try your contacts again.”

Fear flashes in Richie’s eyes and he shakes his head. “I have to stay here- Eddie, I can’t-”

“Hey, hey,” Bill says gently. He puts his hands on Richie’s arms and can feel him trembling. “What’s Eddie going to say when he wakes up and finds you this filthy and full of germs?” 

Richie’s lower lip wobbles and only a choked whimper makes its way from his throat before he practically collapses into Bill’s arms. Bill shuffles his feet to support them both better and wraps his arms securely around Richie.

“His arm, Bill, he l-lost so much blood,” Richie chokes out.

“I know,” Bill whispers. He’s crying too now. 

“W-what if-”

“Don’t say that. Don’t say that, Richie, he’s going to wake up,” Bill says. He pulls away to hold Richie’s wet and blotchy face and look him in the eyes. “Eddie is going to wake up,” he says, enunciating each word. 

Richie looks at him and a tremor runs through his whole body as he hiccups. 

“You have to believe it, Richie. Eddie needs you to. He is going to wake up. Right?”

Richie sniffles and nods.

“What’s he going to do?” Bill asks. More tears escape from his own eyes and run down his face. 

“Wake up,” Richie says hoarsely. 

“Eddie is going to wake up,” Bill says. 

“Eddie is going to wake up,” they say together. 

Bill pulls Richie into his arms again and they hug each other tight.

“Eddie’s going to wake up, and to prove it,” Bill says, pulling away enough to start guiding Richie to the door, “We’re going to do things like usual. We’re going to wash up and change, and then we’re going to pick up lunch for the others and come back, because no more bad is going to happen.” 

Richie adds something as they manage to get out of the bathroom, but Bill doesn’t catch it. 

“What?”

“Audra,” Richie says, loud enough to hear this time and he looks at Bill. “Audra too.”

Bill’s breath catches in his throat and he nods. “Yeah. Audra too.”

* * *

The entire time they’re away from the hospital, Richie is antsy to get back. He still looks run ragged, they both do probably, but he looks better in a new shirt and a fresh pair of jeans. They pick up sandwiches for the Losers and though they don’t say much, they all feel a little better after eating together. There’s still tension as they wait for news, but it isn’t such a chokehold now. 

Doctors come to talk to Bill and he steps out to discover the results he’s not surprised about, but his heart still sinks when they tell him they can’t figure out why she’s in the state she’s in or how to really get her to ‘wake up.’ Bill catches Richie hovering in the doorway as the doctors walk away and is grateful for his presence next to him as he tells the others. 

When he starts to leave to see Audra, Richie catches his sleeve. 

“Want me to go with you?” he asks. Bill thinks it’s also a ‘can I go with you,’ question, and he says yes to both. 

Audra’s just as he found her in IT’s lair. Her eyes are open, but she can’t see him, and Bill can’t help the tears that come. Richie doesn’t hesitate to grab the hand that’s not holding Audra’s and sling his arm over Bill’s shoulders. They fold into each other again, both crying.

“She’s gonna wake up. They’re both gonna wake up, Big Bill,” Richie says. 

Bill cries harder when Richie says his nickname, but he believes it. They are going to wake up, and they are going to be okay.

Still, he wishes they could just skip to the good part.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from the song the good part by ajr!


End file.
